Recovery
by The Foolish Traveler
Summary: He glared at his opponent & paid no mind to the darkness dancing around his legs lazily.It slowly wrapped around him tighter and tighter; moving up his body & eventually strangling him until he could not breathe. He managed to strangle out a single word..


**_Okay so here it is: the new and improved story! Please enjoy!_**

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Kenny sighed heavily as he sat down in one of the cold metal chairs provided by the airport. He heard a quiet chuckle from beside him and turned his head to look at his Chinese friend, Ray. Unlike his two Japanese friends, Ray was standing up; even after being out of the plane for an hour it felt nice to be able to stretch his legs out. Max's plane was due to arrive twenty minutes after Ray's, but it had been over an hour since Ray's plane had landed, and Max still hadn't arrived. Needless to say, they were getting impatient.

As if sensing that the boys were ready to get out of the crowded airport, a monotone voice spoke over the intercom. The boys could barely hear it over all of the excited friend and family reunions that were taking place just inches from them. Chief thought it sounded like she was saying something close to, "Flight 97 landing."

Apparently Tyson had heard it too because at that instance Tyson leapt onto his chair searching through all of the faces looking for a familiar one. It was about fifteen minutes before he spotted the familiar blond hair and cheerful face. Excited, Tyson waved his arms in the air and yelled for him.

"Hey guys!" Max greeted when he had finally managed to push his way through the crowd. Max looked around their group. He looked slightly confused.

"Hey Max!" They all greeted him simultaneously.

"What're you looking for?" Ray asked, taking note of his friend's confused expression. He picked up his luggage and walked with the other guys out of the airport.

"Oh, I was just wondering where Kai was." Max said while throwing his suitcases in the car provided for them.

"His plane arrived earlier this morning. We met him when he got off, but he just walked out of the airport. Jerk." Tyson replied. He wasn't really surprised; besides, if Kai had reacted any other way then he would probably have been concerned.

"Oh, I should have guessed." Max brushed it off and smiled as he slid into the car next to his teammates.

* * *

Moonlight reflected off the crashing waves below, giving the beach an eerie yet comforting feeling. Kai leaned over the railing, taking in a deep breath of the salty sea air. While in Italy, Kai suspected that he would have little time with the graceful yet treacherous waves of the sea that he admired. He has never told anyone this, but Kai quite enjoyed the presence of the mysterious ocean. Then again, Kai never really told anyone anything, but he was sure that this confession would certainly rouse his beyblading fans and teammates. He could see it now: the reporters and newspapers would jump right on his case. "Fiery Teen Beyblading Champion Takes Comfort From the Ocean, an Element Opposite of His Bitbeast's" or even "Unemotional 'Cool' Teen Shows an Interest in Something Other Than Beyblading!"

It's not that Kai cared what they thought of him, but it was just so out of character for him to actually 'like' something aside from beyblading it scared him. He didn't used to be so weak as to fall for the ocean. When he was young, he lived in Russia, a cold place and far away from the ocean. Perhaps that is why he enjoyed the sight of it so much. It was so unlike his dark past; it gave him hope that not every thing in the world was cold or uncaring. Kai sighed and dropped his head to let it rest against the cool railing.

"Italy...." Despite his nonchalant reaction to the trip, Kai was actually looking forward to it. New sites, new atmosphere, new people. Okay so maybe he wasn't so excited about the latter, but still the thought of going to the infamous city of Venice-where _everything _worth seeing and doing took place- enthralled him. Kai knew his teammates were just as excited as he was, maybe even more excited, but it was his job as the captain to keep everyone on track while there. They weren't going to Italy to have fun; they were going to train. And train hard. It was going to be hard keeping them on track, while he, himself, wanted so much to just go exploring; to go searching for adventures. Kai shook his head clearing his thoughts. It was getting late; he should be heading back to the Granger's Dojo, where they were staying until tomorrow morning, when they would be departing Japan.

"Kai Hiwatari..." A voice said threateningly, "What the HELL do you think you are doing here!? You were supposed to be in Russia! I flew all the way to Russia, froze my ass off trying to find you, just to have some one call and tell me that you are here in nice and cozy Japan! Why the hell would you do that to me!?"

Kai narrowed his eyes. He didn't have the patience or time to deal with fanatic stalkers. He turned away from the feminine voice and began walking in the other direction.

"Where do you think you're.... Hey! Get back here! I demand a battle!"

Kai could hear the soft crunch of gravel as his stalker rushed after him. It was a girl. He could tell that much from her voice. Judging by the sound of her feet hitting against the gravel-turned-cement she was only a couple feet away from him.

"Hn. No chance." He replied coldly. A sharp intake of breath could be heard from behind him. Kai would have paid to see the look on the stalker girl's face. Did she really think that he would really give in that easily?

"Y-you can't just say no! That's gotta be like... against the rules or something!"

"Leave." He replied coldly and continued on, ignoring the steady footsteps of the stalker.

"Hn. No chance." She repeated his earlier words, and Kai could hear the smirk in her voice. Oh talk about a burn! Che, not. Kai mentally rolled his eyes. He continued on his way, ignoring the girl that was beginning to remind him more of a pestering blister on his eye. Not even Tyson annoys him this much, and that's saying something. There was just something about this stalker girl that made him want to punch a wall, and he didn't even know why. Maybe it was because she ruined his peaceful night or something. Whatever, it didn't matter; he was still pissed.

He heard a yawn and a slight stumble from behind him. Kai smirked in triumph as she gave up. He could hear her retreating footstep and almost grinned in spite of himself. His victory was quickly shattered, though, when the stalker girl spoke again, only this time from afar.

"You win this time. But I wish to remind you that this is the only thing you will win at against me. Remember that."

Kai gave her no response and continued on his way. He had been walking along the ocean the whole time and turned to look at it now. His feet seemed to be working on their own as they pulled him closer to the water. Finally he felt the sand sink under his shoes. He reached down and removed his shoes and socks swiftly. He carried them in one hand as he walked still closer to the water. He felt the sand in between his toes, and he relaxed.

_"I wish to remind you that this is the only thing you will win at against me. Remember that."_

Kai shook his head clearing out the girl's acid words. He had nothing to fear from that girl, and he would not have his night interrupted by even the thought of the girl again. Slowly, Kai lowered himself onto the sand, close enough to the water that when the waves came upon the shore, his legs got soaked. He would return to the Dojo later but, for now at least, he was going to relax and let the ocean take over his mind and soul.

* * *

"Remind me that next time we see Mr. D to not talk to him." Tyson grumbled as he grabbed his bag from the inspectors. Tyson and the rest of his teammates had spent most of the night catching up and discussing "Battle Plans", as Tyson likes to call them, with each other and didn't go to sleep until a late hour. Needless to say, they were _tired._

Mr. Dickinson had told them to arrive at the airport a little before an hour early in order to have time to check baggage and whatever else they may need to do, which would leave them at getting to the airport at 6 a.m. Luckily for them, Hilary wasn't accompanying them on this trip, due to the fact that she had been chosen to go on a Leadership Tour Program to America for most of the summer, so they didn't have to wake up at 5 in the morning-an hour earlier than when they were supposed to be there- to her constant yammering as she got ready for the day. They woke up about fifteen minutes or so before they were supposed to get to the airport.

"Tyson. That barely made sense." Max chuckled. He, too was tired, but he knew that as soon as they got on the plane he would be able to go back to sleep for a good amount of time.

"Hey, wasn't that our flight that they just called?" Ray asked, furrowing his brows in concentration as the intercom repeated what had just been said. "Yeah that's us. C'mon guys."

Kai led the group to the boarding dock, Tyson grumbling incoherently the whole way. If they had not been so tired they would have been slightly shocked to find that they were all not seated together. Silently they all staggering down the aisles to their seats, bumping into a few people on the way.

Kenny was seated at the front of the plane next to a middle-aged woman who was reading her book. In all honesty, he would much rather sit next to this stranger than next to Tyson who, despite his extreme exhaustion, could be heard from his seat in the back of the plane. Kenny sighed and snuggled in contempt with his seating.

A couple rows behind Kenny, Ray didn't find himself quite so lucky in his placement. He was seated in the middle seat between, what he took to be, a brother and a sister, each around the age of seven or eight. The young boy and girl literally fought over Ray, a couple times even slapping him accidentally. _'This is going to be a long flight'_ Ray tried stopping the two first by his words, then, after earning another slap to the face, he put both of their tiny wrists in his own big hands and just held them there.

Across the aisle Tyson laughed at his friend's troubles. Tyson had pretty much the whole seat to himself. There was a man sitting in the seat closest to the window, but he was already out cold. There was a seat in between the them, and Tyson imagined himself strewn across the vacant seat, fast asleep, more comfortable than his teammates. Just as he was lifting his legs up to the seat, an elderly woman scooted into the said seat. Tyson growled angrily. He turned on his side away from the woman and glared a hole into the floor of the plane.

* * *

Diagonal from Tyson, Max shook his head wearily at his teammate's childish behavior. Max scooted further down into his seat and closed his eyes, determined to sleep until the plane ride was over with.

"Hi!" A voice chirped from beside him.

Max opened his eyes slowly and turned to look at his disturber. It was a small Japanese girl, around the age of six. She smiled so brightly that Max couldn't help but smile back. "Hey there."

That was all the push the little girl needed because next thing Max knew he was being pelted with questions that he had no chance to answer. "What's your name? Where are you going? My name is Michiko Nasaruyno! Me and my mommy," She pointed to the lady sitting on her other side, who smiled apologetically. "are going to Italy to see my cousins. You see my mommy's sister married this _amazingly _beautiful ma-"

She stopped suddenly and looked Max up and down. A look of scrutiny and concentration was plastered on her face. Max scratched his head nervously. Even under the judgment of a six year old made him a little nervous.

"What did you do to your hair?! Why is it so light? Are you Japanese? And why are you scratching it? Do you have lice or something? See, most the time if I figured out that someone sitting next to me had lice I would freak out, but I had lice a couple of weeks ago, and now I have this lice-repellent shampoo so it doesn't bother me anymore. So anyway, did you dye your hair or what?" The little girl began touching, more like pulling Max thought, his hair, trying, what Max presumed at least, to figure out how his hair got to its light blonde color.

_'There goes my brilliant idea of sleeping.'_ Max sighed and resigned to what he believed was going to be a very long and loud flight. Boy, was he right.

In the very back of the plane, Kai sat in the seat nearest the window. The young boy next to him attempted to talk to him once or twice, but Kai's glares sent the boy turning to talk to the passenger on his other side. Kai caught the boy glancing at him every so often. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to get caught up in his thoughts of the magical creatures of Venice.

"Oh my," Ray grimaced as he caught up with his teammates. Normally he was not one to complain, but he had cuts and what he was sure would be bruises come morning time, from his quarreling seat mates. He rubbed the side of his face where the girl had hit him the most.

"Tell me about it." Max grumbled, picking up his suitcase. "I don't think any one has ever been that close to talking my ear off." He rubbed his ear ceremoniously.

"Oh, please. You think you had it bad?" Tyson challenged from behind them. "I had to sit next to this old geezer! She fell asleep the moment the plane took off and slobbered all over my new jacket!" Tyson presented his soaking sleeve.

Max and Ray turned around to face Tyson, each with a look of murder on their face.

"Eh heh..." Tyson scratched his head nervously. "I was just kidding. _Kidding._ Get it? H-Hey. What are you doing?! Ow! Ouch! Why'd you do that!?" Tyson grumbled as he got up from the floor and followed his friends, who had continued to walk out without him. He felt the spot on his head, where there was already a bump forming from where Ray and Max had hit him.


End file.
